[Sunday morning we woke up to news of a 6.0 earthquake in Napa Valley which is about 100 miles to Michael. The Mission President in the neighboring mission sent an email out to parents immediately saying all missionaries were safe and counted for. Curious if Michael felt anything, we were quickly comforted.] No I didn't. I feel like I keep getting ripped off with
potentially cool earthquake stories...oh well.
It has been an interesting transition moving up here to
Oroville. The biggest change for me is our new Sunday Schedule. So maybe I
didn't mention this before, but my companion and I cover the Oroville 3rd Ward
and the Gridley YSA Branch. Anyways, so on Sunday, we head out to our first
church meeting and 9 am and we don't get back from our last meeting until well
after 6 pm....I will never complain about 3 hours of church ever again after
this. It is also really strange being in a YSA branch because so many people
are my same age...and I am not used to having to worry about who is dating who,
and who can and cannot fellowship our investigators for various reasons. It will be good for me though, as it is hardest for me
to know how to interact with people my same age. What was really cool is that
the mini missionary that Elder Tomblin and I had, Sam, lives up here in Gridley
and just got called to be the assistant ward mission leader in the YSA Branch.
So not only will I see him every week (if not more at various activities and
FHE), but he will be working closely with us in our work. It will be
interesting to see how everything plays out here. I am still trying to get
settled, but it will be good.
It is always hard to leave an area, but I took great
consolation in the words people said to me and the fact that I helped get the
work in the area more organized than it was when I got there. Maybe I didn't baptize
tons of people, but I feel like I was successful there. I hope to do the same
here.
The only news I get is what is found on Mormon Newsroom
and Facebook. I did hear about the two
Elders in Taiwan. Hopefully I will be alright from Carbon monoxide (CO). I am
just glad to be here in the U.S. where things usually are just a little safer. [Within 10 hours, 3 missionaries died. Michael assured us that it is required to have CO2 detectors in each bedroom, and that he has always seen them in his apartments. However, just to be safe, we sent him a battery operated one as well.]
The email just came in with my return
date as January 2nd. Not as much time as I would have liked, but hey, I am just
glad to get to be there for the school semester. I am sort of happy that I get
to spend Christmas here because that is a fun time to be a missionary. I guess I
will get all 4 calls home, one of which just a little over a week before I come
home. Now I can just focus on working and not thinking about it.
We had a baptism this past Saturday that I sort of walked
into. It went really well, but the best part was when Elder Page and I were
teaching during it. In our mission, we have been asked to use the time while
the recent convert is changing to teach those in attendance the Restoration.
Well over the past couple weeks I have been thinking a lot about teaching by
the Spirit, specifically the promises about your mouth being filled, and taking
no thought beforehand what to say. I also listened to a talk by Elder Cook of
the Seventy solely about teaching by the Spirit. Anyways, as we were teaching,
I wasn't feeling like I knew what to say and that I was sort of struggling,
despite having taught this lesson hundreds of times before. In my mind I said
sort of a silent prayer asking for help, but I still felt that I wasn't doing
very well. While Elder Page was teaching a portion, I remember saying, in my
head, 'what happened to it be given to me in the very hour I need it? Haven't I
exercised enough faith by being here and praying for help in order to receive
it?' and similar such thoughts. Well when it was my turn to speak again,
something changed. I wouldn't say that I
suddenly spoke anything that was stunning, or out of character, but I felt so clearly
what I was to say and how I was to say it that I had no problem teaching that
point with confidence and clearly. I was probably the only one who noticed this
miracle, but it changed my testimony of that promise forever. After we finished
I sat down and silently thanked Heavenly Father for that blessing, and the
scripture from Mark Chapter 9 verse 23 came to mind: "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to
him that believeth." So anyways, from now on I will work on not doubting
so much!
I am sending a picture with my new companion home. Our
apartment here is pretty sweet. We have 2.5 bathrooms (for 4 of us) and a
generously sized living room. Like I said, my companion and I have a truck and
we cover an area that really almost feels like all of my last 3 areas put
together into one; there is a lot of lower end areas, but we cover the
foothills and country as well as a lot of downtown areas that remind me of
Chico (sort of). I will make sure to take plenty of pictures. It has been great
getting to see Elder Benedict and Elder Geisler this week. I am excited to be
serving around them, along with many other missionaries I know already. It should be fun though, so I am excited.
Thanks for everything. I will have more news next week,
and hopefully I won't feel so lost! This week should be interesting with
appointments and exchanges, but I am excited to finally have a solid return
date so I don't have to stress. Thanks for everything! Take care!
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